Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Believe it or not, there's a soup recipe in here.

Poor Weightwatchers. I started out so full of hope and promise and had a whole 2 days counting points and getting used to the system. But then the embolism happened and it all fell by the wayside. I did try to be dedicated. I even kept track of what I was eating for the first few days, but when it became apparent I was going to be in for a while I decided to write the week off. I did try and remain on best behaviour though. When Mum came to see me on my first day in hospital I accepted the Nutrigrain bars and satsumas but made her take the massive bag of mini cheddars and the funsize Mars bars home.

However it turns out that I was to find myself on a much more productive diet than Weightwatchers. It’s called the Hospital Diet and basically someone tries to feed you the worst food imaginable. So bad that you actually start to develop a bit of a phobia of it and dread the appearance of the mealtime trolley. So horrendous that you end up just ordering salads which you will try to eat but will lose the will to live half way through due to the lack of dressing or salt and pepper. You’ll also develop a rabid fear of coleslaw – NHS Hull and East Riding seem to think that approximately half a ton of coleslaw is required when you have a salad.

Once I was on the outside I did resume my Weightwatchers (apart from Saturday when I went mental and had a Macdonalds for lunch and a steak the size of my head for dinner) meaning that I’ve spent a grand total of 5 days on the plan. Yesterday was my first weigh in I have lost the grand total of 8lbs in 2 weeks. (I'll leave some room for applause now.)

The Hospital Diet was an excellent kick in the right direction, and having lost so much in one go I actually have an incentive to carry on losing weight.

So I guess if I’ve committed to lose this weight I’d better, you know, lose weight and to this end I have nominated my former arch enemy, soup, to help me with this task.

I’m thinking I need all the help I can get until I’m able to step foot in the gym again (the date has been set, next week sees the return of the gym as a regular horrifying feature in my life) so the soup book is out, many many interesting looking recipes have been bookmarked and I am determined to make soup my new best friend.

First on the list was Carrot soup. Mainly because I already had all the ingredients and just needed to buy a leek to complete the list (I will hold my hands up, I’ve never bought a leek before. I’ve just never had a use for one it would seem).

I can see why people are fans of the soupagement. It doesn’t really take that long to make. Most of them require fairly minimal ingredients or rely on stock-cupboard stores. And it’s only just dawned on me how freakin’ cheap it is to make! Why did I not have this revelation sooner?!

This soup is nice although I couldn’t help but feel it was lacking a little something. Probably carrots seeing as I intended to make this soup a week before I injured my ankle and when I opened the bag I discovered that half the buggers had gone off, so I was about 100g short of carroty goodness.

- In a large pan with a splash of oil, stir onions and leek, season with salt and leave to sweat for 3 minutes before stirring in the carrots.- Cover and cook for a further 5 minutes.- Bring stock to the boil and pour over the vegetables, cover and simmer for 6-7 minutes.- Liquidize and then season to taste- Optional - stir in cream and chives

It’s still nice even if I was a little short on carrots. It was also not watery, an essential for me in the soup stakes. If it’s watery it’s just too annoying to eat.

And it made a good 4 portions (probably 5 if you’re like me and wanted to eek it out that little bit further) out it which has meant that your lunches for the week are sorted, as long as you don’t mind being a creature of habit for a whole week.

If you speak Weightwatchers this next sentence will mean something to you, the rest of you, look away now please...

...it has zero points. Zilch. Not one. (As long as you don’t add the natural yoghurt that is and I don’t feel the poorer for missing it out.) My only points at lunchtime comes from the slice of toast I have my soup, I can’t eat a bowl of soup on its own, I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.

Soups great but eating the same soup day after day will drive you nuts.Make up a batch of soup, eat one serving or two depending how much you fancy it, portion up the rest and stick in your freezer.Do that with a few different varietys and soon you'll have a ready selection for any time ;)

A stint in hospital is not the ideal way to lose some weight. Though how anyone can enjoy the grub (I won't call it food)in there must be bonkers - I remember Friday was always 'FISH' day and the stink was terrible.

Good luck with the Soups - but, like Taz, you need to make a few different flavours and store them in the freezer so you aren't eating the same one everyday for a week.

Not drinking alcohol is probably the number 1 best way ever to lose weight. No alcohol calories, no accidental late night fast food, no restorative hangover breakfasts. You'll be as thin as a whippet before you know it!

Ha! I knew hospitals must be good for something.Via Flossie Teacakes (I was looking for dress pattern book recommendations), I found a couple of slimming cook books which you might be interested in. "Cook Yourself Thin" http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cook-Yourself-Thin-Delicious-Dress/dp/0718153510/ref=pd_sim_b_2 and "Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache" http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0593062361?ie=UTF8&tag=flossteaca-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0593062361 I've even managed to find and reserve a copy of this last one at my local library (which is generally crap)- apparently it's full of cake recipes made with vegetables instead of fat. Sounds interesting.

You already know of my hatred of soups.. Which is kinda annoying because most no-check (if doing the Slimmers way) foods are veggie soups.. :P Why can't they make a no-calorie/no-check/free-for all mickie-d's burger?

Oh my god 8pounds, that's shit loads!!! Congratulations!!!!!!!! That really is amazing!! I haven't done so well (like nothing at all actually) since coming back from dubai, don't think I've put anything on though so I guess that's alright (kind off) - my mum's coming over next week though so I might have to stop eating till then (my mum is like half the size of me.)

How could you never have bought a leek before??!!! You obviously haven't tried the lush post xmas turkey and leek pie - you haven't lived girl!!!

Oh and yes, total agreement - soup without bread is like. erh I don't know but you know what I mean!!